Will leaves cats to pet sanctuary

May 8--After her husband, Leonard, died in 2006, Loreita Harrison lived with just the Persian cats that she bred, showed and had kept for much of her adult life.

"Those cats were everything to her," said her stepdaughter, Sue Plantz.

In the end, the felines were the only witnesses to her death.

Harrison died last week at age 80 in the company of 15 pet Persians, found by firefighters when they discovered her body on the sofa in her south Sacramento home Saturday. The cats, some with severely matted fur, and skin and respiratory problems, are in the care of the nonprofit Happy Tails pet sanctuary, per Harrison's last will and testament.

"We are going to abide by her wishes," said Happy Tails board President Becky Maclay. "We will try to find good homes for all of these cats. But right now, they are just really happy to have fresh food, shelter and attention."

Harrison had apparently been dead for at least two days when firefighters entered her home after being notified by a family member that she was not responding to telephone calls and knocks on her door. They found a hot stove and burned food along with the cats, both loose and in carriers around the home.

"That doesn't happen very often," said Gina Knepp, a spokeswoman for Sacramento Animal Care and Control, whose officers responded to the case.

Family members produced a will that entrusted the care of the cats to Happy Tails, and set aside money for their care, said Knepp. "The family was loud and clear that the cats were extremely important to this lady," she said.

Plantz said Harrison, a retired electronics assembler, bred and showed Persians for "many years," but that most of the felines in the home when she died were pets. "They were her companions," the stepdaughter said.

Happy Tails staffers said the cats show signs of neglect and will need full medical work-ups and spaying and neutering operations before they are available for adoption.

The pet shelter expects to receive about $7,500 from Harrison's estate, which probably will not be enough to cover care for the cats, Maclay said.

"We weren't really prepared to take them," she said. "But when we went in that home, we just said, 'We have to find a way.' "